Ben Shephard says the silliest answers on his quiz Tipping Point come from being under pressure and he insists he “makes a fool of himself regularly” in moments which end up on the cutting room floor.
Tipping Point celebrates 10 years on ITV with a new series starting next week and is possibly best known for when host Ben asked a primary teacher called Dom: “In his epic poems, Homer often refers to the nectar as the drink of the gods and which other substance as their food?”
Dom replied: “I know he likes doughnuts,” with Ben looking flabbergasted by the answer. “I think I’ll go with doughnuts please, Ben.”
The moment last October went viral with millions of people watching it around the world and there have been plenty of other comedy slip ups, but Ben insists answering questions on the quiz to try to win £10,000 is not as easy as it looks.
Ben said: “These people are under pressure in an environment and their minds go blank and they can’t think of anything and the words don’t make sense. And I just have so much admiration for all of them.
“There have been some amazing answers but to be fair to all those people that come in, they are incredibly brave to take on the machine. And I would hate to think anybody would be nervous about coming in because they’re worried about making a fool of themselves, because I have done it on a number of occasions, and continue to make a fool of myself regularly.
"And I think that anybody can, when you’re under pressure like that. And hopefully they feel like we’re laughing with them and not laughing at them, because I would hate that to be the case."
Looking back on when it first started, Ben says he hoped the show would do well but had no idea it would be a hit and notch up over 1000 episodes, when he was pitched a show based around a large coin pusher arcade-style machine.
“I would never have expected it to last 10 years, because I think whenever you work in, or certainly when I work in telly, you temper all your expectations.
“But I remember the first person that won big on the show was Kelly, who was a swimming teacher. I can remember playing the game with her and her getting to the end, and I think she won a couple of thousand pounds, she had loved it, we had loved it. That £2,000 was going to make a huge difference to her life at the time.
“And you kind of think, ‘There’s something in this, isn’t there?’ The joy that she had sort of given off, and the other contestants had all really, really enjoyed.
“It’s not as scary as some of the other shows, which I really love about it. And that’s why each show creates its own energy, because for that hour, that’s their one chance they’ve got to play this game. That’s their one chance to get on this machine
“And it’s really hard not to look at the machine as being a living, breathing thing that you can sort of bend to your will, When it’s not paying out or it goes the wrong way, you get really angry. I get really affronted at the machine. It feels like she’s taken a dislike to some of the contestants, for whatever reason.”
Ben, 47, also said he is back filming four episodes a day now for series 13 and will be excited to have “Ben hugs” back on the quiz when things get emotional and there is a big win with restrictions over.
Tipping Point airs weekdays at 4pm on ITV and ITV Hub.
